On 5 October, Marco Valbuena, Chief Information Officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines condemned Vice President Sara Duterte’s response to critics on her use of the so-called ‘confidential and intelligence funds’ saying her refusal to explain “fuels the people’s outrage against brazen corruption.”
Valbuena said that Duterte’s “gaslighting―calling those opposing her anomalous confidential funds as ‘enemies of the state’―will not blind nor derail people in their just demand against the secret use of public funds.”
Amid public pressure, the Philippine House of Representatives on Tuesday, 10 October announced that the proposed confidential funds from five government agencies – including the Sara Duterte-led Department of Education and Office of the Vice President – will be reallocated to other government bodies involved in asserting the country’s rights in the West Philippine Sea.
This angered Sara Duterte’s father (former President Duterte) who attacked Speaker of the house Romualdez (cousin of illegitimate president Marcos Jr.) by demanding, instead an investigation of the use of House funds.
Duterte said he told his daughter that ACT Teachers Partylist Representative France Castro, a member of the progressive Makabayan Bloc in congress, should be the “first target” of the confidential fund expenses.
“You, France, the first target of [her] intelligence fund[s]…you, France, I want to kill all you communists,” said Duterte.
In a rare move, on 14 October party leaders of the House of Representatives pushed back against former President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent tirades against Congress, its leader Speaker Martin Romualdez, and for threatening to kill one member.
The signatories of the statement include Duterte’s own party Partido Demokratiko Pilipinas – Lakas ng Bayan, as well as Lakas-CMD, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Nacionalista Party, National Unity Party, and the Party-list Coalition Foundation.
